New strategies to boost regulatory T cells and pause immunosuppressants after kidney transplant
Official title: Innovative strategies to enhance Treg function and promote IS drug-free kidney transplant survival
Funded at University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh · NIH-11365827 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This grant explores using engineered immune cells to help kidney transplant patients keep a healthy graft without lifelong immunosuppressive drugs.
Quick facts
| Grant type | P01 program project |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Pittsburgh, United States) |
| Project start | July 3, 2025 |
| Project end | May 31, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $780,506 |
| NIH project number | 5P01AI181829-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11365827 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults who have или may undergo kidney transplantation and are candidates for tolerogenic cell therapies involving regulatory T cells or CARTreg approaches.
✕Less likely to help
Individuals not eligible for cellular therapy or with contraindications to cell-based tolerance strategies may not benefit.
What this research studies
Researchers aim to prolong immunosuppression-free graft survival by restraining memory T cells that resist standard therapy and by boosting donor-specific regulatory T cells. The project includes ex vivo expansion and genetic shaping of regulatory T cells (including CARTreg) to target donor antigens and improve their function after transfer into patients. The work examines how to balance inflammation, antigen-presenting cells, and cytokines to support durable tolerance while minimizing side effects. The study translates promising findings from animal models toward human kidney transplant patients, with a focus on achieving long-term graft acceptance without persistent immunosuppression.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients could maintain kidney graft function without lifelong immunosuppressive medications and their associated harms.
How similar studies have gone: Early preclinical data and rodent transplant studies support the potential of regulatory T cell–based strategies to promote tolerance, with ongoing translation to human-focused work.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Ezzelarab, Mohamed B — University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh
- Study coordinator: Ezzelarab, Mohamed B
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Microbial clues to diagnose and predict infections in kidney transplant patients
A patient-focused project will look for microbial biomarkers in stool, blood, and urine to help doctors predict and diagnose infections in people who have had a kidney transplant.
-
Immunological mechanisms behind treatment-resistant kidney transplant rejection
This grant explores why certain kidney transplant rejections don’t respond to standard treatments and what immune cells in the graft are driving that resistance.
-
Complement-Bound Exosomes and Kidney Transplant Immunity
This project studies how kidney transplant injury and rejection happen after surgery and whether blocking certain immune pathways during organ preservation could improve transplant outcomes.
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Blood vessel signals predicting heart problems after kidney transplant
This project studies blood markers and tissue patterns after kidney transplants to identify which patients are at highest risk of cardiovascular problems.
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Understanding how BK virus links infection to kidney transplant rejection
This project looks at how BK polyomavirus reactivation affects kidney transplant patients and aims to use pre-transplant T cell information to tailor immunosuppression and monitoring.
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Characterization of a LILRB3 SNP cluster and its link to kidney transplant outcomes
A study in kidney transplant recipients looks at genetic factors that may be tied to higher risk of graft failure.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.